The night of the outbreak, Ethan decided to stay up late and watch TV so he could memorize crass jokes to repeat at school. His dog stayed up with him. An intruder broke into Ethan's house and tried to inject him with an unidentified substance (containing the virus). Larry protected Ethan but was injected instead. The intruder fled, and Larry grew to twice his size and ripped Ethan's throat out before escaping as well. Ethan's parents tried to come to his aid, but he died very quickly.